"Death and Transfiguration"

So I'm in the symphony orchestra on campus, and it's so awesome!! We've played some pretty awesome things in the past, like Beethoven's Fifth Symphony (which was cool for me because that was my second time playing it, but the first time on trumpet), Brahms Academic Overture, Hanson's Romantic Symphony (that one is one of my super-favorites!) Tchaikovsky's First Symphony... We've played a lot of really good literature.

Our first concert was normal- we played Borodin's Polovstian Dances and the overture to Prince Igor. Our second (set of) concerts was the Sacred Music Project.

But this last concert was the greatest of them all. We started by playing Brahms Tragic Overture, and that was really fun... there's so many great moments in that piece. We then finished the concert (it was a short one) with one of Richard Strauss's symphonic poems- namely, Death and Transfiguration.

It. Was. AWESOME!!

If you haven't heard this song, or any of Strauss's symphonic poems... you need to! Your life will be so much more complete after hearing it!! It has such a huge orchestration and the sound and the complexity... it's SO good!! And we played that concert darn well! That was the best brass section I've ever been part of in orchestra.

I'm so glad I'm a BA. I went to a trumpet recital last Saturday, and it really reaffirmed what I thought I already knew- I don't want to be a big solo performer. I really don't like solos as much as symphonies, and I never have. The bigger the ensemble, the better. I ADORE giant orchestras, and giant symphonic songs for giant orchestras.

Go listen to Strauss! Now! I command you!